SPEECH BY H.E. HON. UHURU KENYATTA, C.G.H.

, PRESIDENT AND COMMANDER IN

CHIEF OF THE DEFENCE FORCES OF THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA DURING THE
SIGNING CEREMONY OF THE MOMBASA PORT COMMUNITY CHARTER, LAUNCH OF
KPA STRATEGIC PLAN AND THE CHARTER PERFORMANCE DAHSBOARD, KENYA
PORTS AUTHORITY, MOMBASA, 30TH JUNE, 2014
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great pleasure to join you all in this ancient city, as we launch the first Mombasa port community
charter.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Mombasa is more than a millennium old. As long ago as the fourteenth century, it was a busy trading
hub.
Then, as now, it was a ital gateway, lin!ing the lands of "ast and #entral Africa with the rest of the
world. It was the !ey port in this part of the world.
$ut its rapid growth in recent years % traffic rising at a steady &' annually % has e(erted pressure on
our infrastructure. If Mombasa is to hold its place as the preeminent port in the region, we must wor!
together to improe its capacity and efficiency.
The dredging of the channel to accommodate large post)*anama( essels, the construction of
additional berths, and the construction of the +
nd
container terminal that will double the capacity of this
port once completed in +,-. % all these show our intent and commitment, not only to presering
Mombasa/s hard)earned pre)eminence but also to securing 0enya/s proper place as the region/s centre.
$ut now, Ladies and Gentlemen, we !now that new infrastructure alone will not delier the efficiency
we desire in the port and in the northern corridor. It is not enough to e(pand and improe infrastructure1
we must also loo! at our policies, processes and systems with a fresh eye, to see what we can improe,
and what we must discard.
That is why, in 2une last year, I issued a directie ordering the streamlining of port operations. A chief
aim of that directie was to cut transit time from Mombasa to Malaba from -3 days to 4.
It was encouraging to see that we reached that target in ery little time, and with almost no new
inestment. This is a lesson % if a lesson were needed % that dedicated management and good systems
and processes are as important as the infrastructure itself.
5ow, following that encouraging precedent, sta!eholders in the port, with the support of Trademar!
"ast Africa, hae come together and prepared a port #harter to consolidate the gains of that earlier
directie.
The #harter commits parties both from public and priate sectors to measures that will increase the
efficiency of the port and the 5orthern #orridor. It also sets out, in clear detail, initiaties that we
e(pect to play a substantial part in unloc!ing the trade potential of the whole of our region.
Let me mention some of them, if only in passing. The charter commits to the reduction of turnaround
times in the northern corridor6 the integration of all port community members/ systems into the 0enya
5ational "lectronic 7ingle 8indow 7ystem6 and the achieement of &,' cargo output routed through
the green channel by +,-..
The achieement here is not simply putting these ambitious goals on paper. 9ather, in bringing
sta!eholders to these mutual commitments, we are establishing a culture of performance, measured
against agreed goals and timelines.
The first, ital, step in supporting the charter, and one that I will ta!e today, is to ma!e certain that
eery public institution party to the charter is alie to its obligations, and directed to perform them.
I hereby direct eery public institution that subscribes to the #harter to determine its obligations under
this agreement, and begin to meet them. The process will include incorporating their obligations in the
#harter within the annual performance contracting process for effectie ealuation.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As I said earlier, the port of Mombasa joins our lands to the world. 7o we can as! our foreign friends
and partners to assist us in improing the port. If they do, the success of the initiaties we launch today
will be as much theirs as it is ours.
I hae spo!en of what goernment will do. I hae inited our foreign partners and friends to help us. I
hae not forgotten the priate sector parties to this charter. They too hae shown foresight in joining
this initiatie. It remains only to urge them to play their part.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Too often in the past, ambitious initiaties of this !ind hae been launched, only to fade away for lac!
of monitoring. 8e cannot let that happen here. 8e cannot let the #harter we launch today become yet
another document, gathering dust deep in a forgotten office. I wish, therefore, to as! Trademar! "ast
Africa to ma!e aailable, preferably online, a :uarterly report that gies us hard data on the progress of
the initiatie. 8e must % and we will % hold each other accountable.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Loo!ing ahead let me say that my goernment remains as dedicated as it eer was to the deelopment
of the second economic corridor in the region % the set of projects that we call LA*77"T. Indeed, we
will begin construction of the first three berths in Lamu this year.
Let me than! the partners, both foreign and domestic, who shared our ision, and came to our aid, at
the inception of the project. Their support is warmly appreciated, and I urge them to maintain it.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is now my pleasure to declare the Mombasa *ort #ommunity #harter officially launched.
Mungu awabari!i na awalinde nyote.